Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/362

 ir o( his own sufTcr ings ; his wholc attention was absorbcd in looking for iomc traces of Airs. .Weldoa'^ progrcss ; if she, too, was being taken to Kazoïmdj, her route mut ibo lie this way. But he could discover no trace (^her huriag been conducted by this Hne of march, and could only bope tfaat she was being spared the craeltîes which he was hini- self witnessing: ' The forest cxtcnded for about twenty miles to tbe east of the Coanza, but whether it was tiiat the trees had been destroyed by the ravages of insects, or broken down before tfaey had madc their growth by being trampled on by dephants, they wcre growing much less thickly tban in the immédiate vicintty of the river. There were numbers of cotton-treaB, seven or eight feet high, from whidi are mana- factured the black-and-white striped stuffs that are won in the interior of the province ; but, upon the whole, progiess was not much împcdcd either by shrubs or underwood. Occastonally the caravan plungcd into jungles of reeds likc bamboos, thcir stalks an inch in diameter, so tall that only an éléphant or giraffc could hâve reared above them, and through which nonc cxcepting such as had a vay intimate knowlcdgc of the country could possibly hâve made their way. Starting evcry morniiig at daybrcak they marched tîU noon, when an hour's hait was madc. Packets of manioc were thçn unfastcned, and dolcd out in sparîng quantiti» among the slaves ; somctimcs, when the soldiers had plundered some village, a littlc goat's flcsh or some sweet potatocs were addcd to the meal ; but gencrally the fatigue, aggravatcd by inadéquate rcst, took away the appetite,and when mcal-time arrived many of the slaves could hardly eat at ail. Duriiig the first eight days' march from the Coanza no Icss than twenty unfortunate wretches had faJlen upon the road, and had been left bchind, a prey to the lions, panthers, and léopards that prowled in the wake. As Dick heard theïr roars în the stillness of the night, he trembled as he thought of Hercules, Nevertheless, had the oppor- tunity otlcred itself, hc would not for a moment bave hesititted in makïpg his own escape to the wîldemcs&